Some 200 members of the PCS union have been striking to demand a decent pay rise.

John Manners, the PCS branch chair, told Socialist Worker, “This is the fifth year of pay cuts as part of government austerity. This year is different because our boss gave the executive team pay rises of between 8.5 percent and 18 percent.

“We’re fighting for decent pay after years of pay restraint for our members in the context of massive pay rises for our executive. Enough is enough”.

Other strikers were angry that the pay rises had been kept hidden and that it took a Freedom of Information request from the union to expose them. One striker said, “This is Robin Hood in reverse. They’re robbing the poor to give to the rich. These are unfair pay rises in an organisation historically known to be low paid.”

She continued that “The ICO is run on good will, we’re not a militant organisation, but even people not in the union are angry and devastated.”

They were also angry that the senior commissioner at the ICO, in charge of information rights for Britain, claimed, in response to the union that he did not recognise their information request.

PCS members have taken two days strike earlier in February and this was the final of three days of their second strike.